Now the beach is deserted, except for some kelp,

Am in an empty house. I have a duvet on the floor, a towel, a laptop, and everything else is packed. Everything is cleaned to an inch of its life. I'm basically good to go. Was odd staying here last night. I thought that I'd be sad, regretful, melancholy, contemplative, any of the shoegazing emotions. No such thing though. Felt, happy and calm and excited and ready to move on. Not what I expected but totally welcome. 

Need to get up, shower, and go in search of food. Biggest, and achoolal love to Luke and Belle for all their help yesterday. Also to Moll, and Mikey who are both utterly awesome. 

I guess that this is what peace feels like. The feeling when you know that you've made the right decision. 

Take what you have gathered from coincidence....

I have a friend who can fit all his worldly goods into one bag. In contrast I'm presently looking at two big black bin bags which are all full of underwear. I have a problem with knickers. Whenever I was having a rubbish day down the book mines I would buy a new pair of knickers. Really bad days necessitated the bra too. At the time I thought this was somehow a healthier indulgence than wine or cake. Foolish woman.

I'm pruning my stuff. Actually, that is something of an understatement. It's all got to go. By Sunday morning my worldly goods will consist of the contents of four cardboard boxes, two suitcases, and one satchel. It's brutal. I always thought that I wasn't especially materialistic. Quelle crock. I have so much stuff. Some of it is just the stuff which grown ups have, washing machines, book cases, potato ricers, 37 wooden spoons, televisions, beds, trifle bowls, etc. That stuff is quite easy. I've put it all on Freecycle, and now spend most of my waking hours chained to my in box. Nice people come to my house, and take the stuff away, and they say Thank You, and I get the glow of karmic smugness. The massively sentimental stuff is also easy to deal with. There is no way I'm not taking my cut out and dress Clem doll, my cross stitch sampler I made at primary school, or the 35 notebooks which I may one day write a best selling novel in. Books, music, and films are also quite easy, as they no longer have to exist in a physical form. Actually, as an aside, I just went out for coffee, and as I sat there listening to music, reading The End of the Affair on my Kindle, and checking emails it occurred to me that I've become one of those people. So, I took out an actual notebook and made a list and did a doodle. Phew, Lo fi credibility  restored. What I'm struggling with is the kind of mid brow stuff , which serves no practical purpose, but which I have simply because I never got rid of it. Things like a seemingly endless supply of silk flowers which I pinch from a local bar whenever I'm drunk, or a cloth owl with a charming beak. I don't need this stuff. It's just clutter. I have become quite staggeringly ruthless with it. I like the idea of being unencumbered, of being able to carry everything I own with me, like some kind of Kerouac character, only with nail polish, false eyelashes and 86 pairs of knickers.

On the railway tracks, with the gravel in your back....

Oh my, it's going to be a challenging week. Lots to do and think about. Lots of goodbyes. Lots of emotion. I've just taken a break and gone out for a coffee. Made an utter doofus of myself by bursting into tears because the wrong song came up on shuffle, and I had to phone Squirrel and be talked down.

So, yesterday The Bounder, Alpha girl and I had lunch together. It was genuinely lovely, and started me thinking. I'm fairly certain that it will have been the last time that I see my Husband in a very long time. It probably needs to be if I'm going to move on and process things, sort out my head, and stop being such a needy madam. Also, I very much doubt that his new girlfriend is too happy about our continuing tendency to drop things and sort out various crisis for each other. Moving away, and on is definitely the good and healthy thing to do. Still spent most of yesterday evening in tears though.

It's the memories. I know that towards the end things were horrible. I know that we should have separated three years ago. I know that we've done mean and horrible things to each other. I know that I used to lie in bed and consider gnawing my own arm off, just to feel something. I know that some of my friends consider my husband to be a bit of a wrong un. I know that we bring out the worst in each other. I  know that I've spent five years on Lustral rather than have a necessary conversation. I know that I lost myself, my pride and my respect.  I'm not stupid, and I do know all of these things.

It's just that I know lots of other things too. I remember what it was like when we first met, that giddy, wonderful, consuming gorgeousness that comes with meeting the person who fits, who makes sense of all the wrongness, and makes everything seem shinier and more lovely. I remember what song was playing as we drove to get married, finally understanding the rules of cricket, mammoth scrabble sessions, going to bed for 48 hours with a bottle of vodka, laughing until we cried, and crying until we laughed. I remember the hospital in Birmingham at four in the morning, and the summerhouse by the lake in November.  We were together for the best bits of my life, and also for the very worst, most heartbreaking bits, which nobody else will ever know about. There are phrases and words which will always make me smile, and songs I'll never be able to listen to again. I remember him wearing a dress, and a jumper,when I introduced him to the landlord of my local. I remember all the times he made it better for me. I remember cooking, and bathing, and singing together, and him washing the dye from my hair for me, and putting plasters on my knees for me, and just so much stuff. It doesn't go away, it's just they used to be collective memories, and now they are two sets of separate memories, and I have to be OK with that. And I am, and I will be.

Oh, but yesterday, we were saying goodbye, and I was crying, but trying not to, trying to rationalise it all, to put a positive spin on it, make a joke of it all, trying to be brave and admirable, and he hugged me and stroked my hair, and said "shhhhhhhhhhhh", which was always the signal that everything would be OK, ( even when it wasn't) ,and I just knew, that in spite of the last five months, or the last three years, or the last fifteen years, depending on how one views it, this was still the person and the place that knew me the best. I knew that I  could go out and giggle and flirt with as many unsuitable boys as I wanted, and that some of them might even turn out to be kind and funny and lovely, but that it will be a very long time till I find someone who can soothe me with a single syllable. And that's OK. Actually, that's more than OK. It's how it should be.

Lawks, it's only Monday.......

This is dedicated to the one(s) I love.......

Many years ago, when I was proper can't get out of bed, I hate myself, and I want to die depressed a counsellor  introduced me to the idea of lists of gratitude. For those not fluent in therapy speak this is an exercise in which each day you have to find three things to be thankful for. I hadn't done this for years but when my marriage ended I started up again. They weren't always pretty reading. One which I remember clearly said, " I am grateful for the pain, because it means that I'm not numb anymore." Emo alert! I know that I tend to make light of the whole thing on here. This is partly just who I am. I have a pathological need to find humour in all things, and I do find the universe pretty amusing. It is partly also because I am actually a much more positive person these days. Today somebody told me that I always used to look unhappy when I thought that no one was watching me, but that these days I look really excited and happy when I think I'm unobserved. So, in the spirit of the lists of gratitude here are the people who have got me here.

1) Luke, thank you for your unflinching friendship and loyalty, for getting here in fifteen minutes when I  needed you the most, for putting up with my selfishness, and neediness, and for calling me out on them when necessary. For going on long walks with me, and taking me to the beach.  Also, for the endless cups of tea, and for being kind, patient and loyal. Biggest and honest love.
2) Alice. my darling girl, you are the reason why I can't regret any of this. It has been such an unbelievable honour to watch you grow into the beautiful, intelligent, kind, funny, brave and brilliant woman that you are. You are the wisest, and truest person I know, and I love you more than anything else ever. I promise that  I will always support, treasure and love you, and I feel blessed to have you in my life.
3) Hatty. One of the best things to have come out of the last six months is that I now get to call you my friend. For an immature, irresponsible fop, with questionable taste in neck ties The Bounder doesn't half get some awesome women to go out with him. Thanks for everything darling, especially for your generosity and empathy.
4) Sammy. Thank you for the wisdomosity and the sanctuary, and for making room in your home and your life for someone who wasn't always very good company. Also, thanks to Evie and Lilster.
5) Molly. For virtual hand holding from many miles away, and for actual hair holding by the side of the road. For asking the questions, which nobody else dared to, for letting me sleep, making me eat, and for awesome dating advice. Also, for being brilliant, hilarious and for having amazing hair. One day we'll come to blows over which of us gets to marry Mr Garvey, but I'll always love you very much. Thanks in advance for the retarded seagulls painting. xx
6) Jenny, who had the idea in the first place.
7) Krissi, Amanda, Claudia, Jazz, Justin, David, and Mike, for taking a chance on me, for allowing me to really blur the lines of acceptable interview conduct, and for being the kindest, most creative and generous bunch of people I've met in a very long time.
8) Dan number 1. For coming back into my life at exactly the right moment. You are a wise, funny and kind man. Thank you for being in daily contact, for being supportive and awesome, for the phrase " bumadeaf", and for all the imaginary suitors. I also suspect that you've been doing all sorts of interceding with the universe on my behalf, and am enormously touched and grateful. Come see me soon OK? I'll make a chocolate avocado cake and we can watch Kung Fu Panda.
9) Lee, for making me feel pretty, and confident again and for inspiring an anecdote which has amused many.
10) Voon and Bella, for stacks of small kindnesses and for being kind and wonderful, and genuinely happy for me when it all started to go right.
11) Dan number 2. For coming into my life at exactly the right moment. For being kind, clever, funny, generous, talented and honest. For blurring the lines of acceptable interview conduct with me in quite spectacular fashion, for really seeing me,and for making me begin to see too, for your belief in my awesomeness, for comparing me to Melody Nelson, and for being a better and truer friend than I could ever have hoped to make under the circumstances. Also, for holding my bag whilst I made a snow angel.
12) Liam, for being a notoriously bad man, a possible nemesis,and  an enormous mistake, for making me laugh, and for guaranteeing that I will never be voted right on, tree hugging, feminist of the year.
13) Mark, and Sally, without whom none of this would have happened. Be happy OK?

Next time I promise there will be more jokes about bumming, mass freak outs, and references to the awesome might of my rack.

We pack and deliver like UPS trucks...

So, I now have 15 days left until I move, and I'm having to face up to the depressing fact that I have, in fact, not changed an iota of a jot since I was 19. All that stuff about the wisdom which experience brings, growth and personal development, all bobbins. If one is essentially, a bit lazy, highly flaky, impulsive, easily distracted and given to prevarication on an epic scale it is kind of carved in stone and not going to change whether one is 19, and about to set off for university, or, umm, not quite 19 any more, and about to set off for a new job, and a whole new life. 2012, year of the new improved, spangly, more confident, brave and all round awesome sauce Clem. Well it would be if I could stop getting into a tail spin about what nail varnish to take with me and actually do something useful.

Here is a list of the things which I should have done in the past seven days.

1) Get rid of at least 200 books. Box up the 50 books which I'm taking with me and send them off to Whitby.
2) Burn all CD's to iPod, get rid of CD's.  Actually, this is nearly done. A friend has just left the house with 90% of my CD's, a sauté pan, 7 cook books, an electronic juicer, a pepper mill, and 15 novels.
3) Contact local charities and see if they have any use for various white goods.
4) Get rid of 90% of the small branch of Boots' which is my bathroom. They have shops in Yorkshire. It's not as though I'm moving to the land that Clinique forgot.
5) Tackle the cupboard of doom. Everybody has one. It's not a euphemism.
6) Cancel the Sky subscription.
7) Reduce the mountain of craft supplies. Again, there are wool shops in Whitby.
8) Sort out the carnage in the garden. Again, not a euphemism.

Here is a list of the things which I have actually done in the last seven days.

1) Got The Bounder to cancel the sky subscription.
2) Got horribly unecessary  on Long Island Ice Teas, smoked half a packet of filthy fags, and fell asleep in the garden. Woke up under a duvet, wearing pyjamas which I  have no recollection of even owning.
3) Bought more wool and fabric.
4) Spent an accumulative total of at least twelve hours in the bath. Obviously this does at least go some way of tackling the cosmetics overload situation, but is mainly, just because I  can lock the door on the rest of the world and read regency smut. I can also gaze upon the rows of nail polish and sigh, and put off making any kind of decision.
5) Knitted two thirds of a sock for a very good and kind and funny man.
6) Spent far too much time talking to a man who is neither good nor kind, but who is also funny, but in a very wrong way, and who is also a terrible pervert. I must stop doing this immediately. I do not need the approval of terribly bad men, no matter how handsome. Unless, of course, they are the actual Russell Brand and then we can rebound together. Just realised that I probably wrote that last bit, pretty much word for word in my diary when I was 19. It didn't lead any place good then, and it won't now. Slaps self quite hard, but in a "wake up to yerself you dozy wench" way rather than in a pervy " who's your Daddy? " way.
7) Pondered whether the Joan Holloway look would be a hit in new job. Spent a lot of time looking at the necessary support garments on line. Also seamed stockings.
8) Made a fairly wrong comment about fisting in the stockroom at work. I was wearing fairy wings and a tiara at the time and doing an enchanting dance. Not sure if this ameliorates the situation.
9) Become a bit fixated on the minute details of my present job.
10) Had epic level panic pretty much all the time, just not enough to spur me into actually doing anything useful.

If anybody reading this wants to get in touch and tell me to put down the nail polish and pick up the packing tape, it would be muchly appreciated. I will pay attention I promise. Once I get out of the bath, and decide what to wear to my leaving drinks extravaganza on Friday.

C'est la vie, say the old folks...

I got married in 1997. Throughout my marriage I was excessively faithful. This meant that during the whole of the twenty first century I'd only had sex with one person. I think that I may have held hands with a man who was not my husband, but the details are vague, and I suffered enormous guilt. One of the things that I liked about being married was the idea that I'd never have to take my frock off in front of anybody new, and I'd never have to pretend that my vagina could perform amazing tricks.
  Obviously, when my marriage ended I had to reappraise this position. I became a bit preoccupied with the idea that all the rules had changed, that I'd be laughed at by all the cool kids who were having incredibly adventurous congress. Nobody wants to be last years news sexually. As I said to someone at the time I couldn't really go up to people in bars and say, " Hi, I'm Clem, I like whisky, and slide guitar. What's new in the world of sex?" I also figured out fairly quickly that the first non Bounder shaped person that I slept with was bound to be, by its very nature, a bit odd and discombobulating. I'm not going so far as to say I viewed it as something to get out of the way. I'm not actually a big believer in the idea of meaningless sex. I think it always has meaning, even if that meaning is something as shallow as, " I'm wrecked, and you look pretty. " I was also adverse to the idea of calling upon any of my friends for a restorative seeing to. I figured that I was already dealing with the fall out from one relationship demise, I didn't want to risk complicating another one. So, yeah, not something to get out of the way, but, possibly, something that I had a fairly functional attitude towards.  Sorry, not especially romantic, I know.

So, one night, I got chatting to a boy in a bar. He was perfect in his unsuitability. He was, considerably younger, prettier, smaller, and more groomed than me. I don't know if there is any such magazine as Hoxton Hottie, but if there is then he would have made an ideal cover boy. All ear plugs, ironic badges, and cravat pins. Smelt good though, and I do like that. After I'd uttered, the always enchanting lines, " do you have any idea how Old I am young man?", we had a nice chat about all manner of nonsense, and made plans to meet up the next week. The plan was to meet for a drink, then back to mine for Scrabble, cake and music. The perfect hipster date.  That would have been a lovely evening. It's not what happened.

What happened is that I had a bit of a freak out about the mechanics of dating, the passing of time, the fact that I'm legally married, whether I'd be able to talk to, let alone kiss, a male human being who was not my husband. A very wise friend shared with me her one piece of dating advice which was, " For God's sake have a wank before you leave the house". I'm now planning on writing a book of relationship guidance with that as the title.

So, nervous, on edge, and no dinner inside me as I'd been faffing around applying false eyelashes, and baking a Victoria sponge cake, what could possibly go wrong? Actually it all started quite nicely. He was a good combination of sweetly geeky, and artistic, with just enough of an edge of roguishness,and slight shadiness. So, talking, drinking, bit of hand holding, and a lot of wine. I think that I had the best part of two bottles of red booze, and several Whisky chasers. Lawks, and indeed, a mussy, I was quite undone. Obviously, by now my ardent beau had missed his last train home, and anyway, I had made a cake, and it would have been a shame for the baking to have been in vain.
Back to my house. The marital home, the place I'd shared with my husband, and was now about to defile quite spectacularly. All my fears about just how much the world of courtship had progressed in my enforced absence were about to be realised. And then some. Just to clarify, although I do a good line in Outraged Victorian Virgin, I'm not a prude. I'd even go so far as to say I'm reasonably open minded, vanillary sluttish ,if you will. Moderately minxish .My friend, Moll, likes to claim that I'm actually a ginormous perve, but this is a,slight, exaggeration.  Bear in mind, that the combination of alcohol, shame and denial mean that I've tried to repress the worst of this, but to no avail, some of the memories are just too hideous to stay down. It's kind of like my Vietnam in many ways. So, ( hides head in hands, blushes a colour which clashes with my hair, and rocks backwards and fowards) some of the nights' highlights for your delectation and delight were,

1. Being bitten hard enough to leave discernible teeth marks, in a variety of places including my thighs. My response of " bloody hell, that hurts" was misinterpreted as delight. It wasn't. I do bruise easily, but the next morning I looked like I'd been beaten up by a gang of rabid wolf hounds. Not especially hot. 
2. Being asked if I had " any toys, so I can do both ends at once" I'm sorry, is this what passes as pillow talk these days?  Doris Day would have been horrified. 
3. I think that he left his socks on, but they were quite nice socks, and in the scheme of things this is a trifling detail.
4. This is the most delightful thing of all. My young gentleman caller attempted to, erm, impale me bummily, without asking if it was OK, and without any additional lubrication. Yep, dry bumming. On a first date. Really, is this normal?????? Do all boys do this nowadays? Do all girls love it, do they actually request it ? Is it so much a part of first date behaviour that it passes off without mention, does it now go, meet, have a drink, talk about films, flirt a bit, go home, perform greekish act, have a cup of tea, leave?? Am I a freakish prude, should I get me to a Nunnery?  I was simply staggered, and made my displeasure felt most vocally. Exit, stage right, pursued, if not by a bear, than at least by a cat wearing her best, " You're not my Daddy, and WHATINTHENAMEOFALLTHEBLESSEDSAINTS are you doing to my Mummy?" expression.

So, yeah, that was my first foray into the world of dating. Just lovely. I've learnt from it though. I now have a self imposed three drinks on a first date limit, and have learnt that Victoria Sponge is clearly code for unsolicited anal penetration. Am considering getting cards made for future squires. They will say something like, " Hi, I'm Clem. I quite like having my hair pulled a bit, as long as it's reasonably gentle. I am probably prepared to do some manner of pretending to be a girl held captive by Albanian revolutionaries type nonsense. I may even indulge your, frankly odd, thing for long johns. But under no circumstances, even if you're Richard Armitage, it's your birthday and you come bearing vintage Champagne, and exquisite, hand crafted, silk underwear, should you attempt to commit acts of a bottomish nature upon my person on a first date, without asking first. Thank you. xxx"  I think it just makes things clearer for all parties, and I've come to realise that clarity is quite important.

Don't want to be on top of your list, phenomenally, and properly kissed.

Today my colleague, Miss Catwalk HeartofStone, caught me in the stock room. I had a large Moomintroll toy clasped to my chest, and I was, somewhat tearfully, explaining to it that " I'm simply not in a place where I can love anybody, not even you, and besides I kind of have the hots for Snufkin" This is partly true. I do have a mahooosive crush on Snufkin, in many ways he is the perfect man. It's also true that I was weeping over a soft toy in the stock room. Catwalk and me have worked together for many years, we're fond of each other, and fiercely protective of our department, but we have nothing at all in common. I think that she views me in the same way she would a Panda, intriguing, and mildly diverting, but ultimately a bit pointless. I tried to argue that in my new job, nobody would look askance at such behaviour, rather they would accept, embrace, and encourage it. I don't think she was convinced. 'Tis true though......